The Vs. Studio Blog

“Dance like nobody’s watching; love like you’ve never been hurt. Sing like nobody’s listening; live like it’s heaven on earth.” -Mark Twain

What do you do when no one’s looking?

What do you do when everyone’s looking?

Find the intersection of these two and do it. For that’s where your treasure lies.

“All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.” -Bruce Lee

When’s the last time you had your mind blown open by a new idea or new learning or new appreciation of beauty or…anything at all?

Are you sure you’re still open to the possibility?

P.S. – R.I.P. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

“In my beginning is my end.” -T.S. Eliot

“I’m going to count to ten. I’m here, you’re there….You know what to do…Welcome…Welcome back.” –Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight by John Kolvenbach

Closing a show is never easy. All the relationships that are forged. All the pure joy that comes from performing. All the audience connections that are made. It’s tough to say good bye.

It’s closing weekend of Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight. After three months, it comes down to tonight (Friday) and tomorrow night. And then it’s all she wrote.

Thank you to Circle X for co-producing the show with us and offering us a wonderful space.

Thank you to all the designers and stage crew for bringing your A plus game.

Thank you to John for writing this beautiful play and entrusting us with it.
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Thank you to Jim and Alexandra and Peggy and Grainne for sharing your big, beautiful hearts and immense acting talent.

Thank you audience for showing up.

It’s been a delight to produce and share this show with all of you.

P.S. – There are still a few seats for closing tomorrow. Get your tix Here. Use code “vsally” and you’ll get a nice discount. And stay afterwards to celebrate with us!

The basic economic law of supply and demand states that as price increases, people are willing to supply more and demand less and vice versa when the price falls. However, when resources are limited or supply is constrained, you get scarcity. When that happens, price goes out the window. (For example, the cost of toilet paper during the pandemic.)

You know what’s always in demand, never goes out of style, and is consistently in short supply?

Excellence.

“Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices.” -Ben Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac

“Every night I try myself by Court Martial to see if I have done anything effective during the day. I don’t mean just pawing the ground, anyone can go through the motions, but something really effective.” -Winston Churchill

What worked?

What didn’t?

And why?

The great acting teacher and my friend Howard Fine asks his students the above three questions at the end of every scene. The idea being that by answering the questions, they can objectively dissect their own work. They become self dependent actors. Howard never wanted to be anyone’s guru. He instead wanted everyone to be their own guru. Their own toughest critic.

Setting acting aside, asking yourself these three questions every night also work great for your overall life. Especially if you have or are thinking about starting a journaling practice.

Try it for a month. See what kinda progress you make. How does it make you feel? The Stoic philosopher Seneca said that by examining the events of the day right before going to bed, “the sleep that followed was particularly sweet.”

What’s precious to you? What do you care deeply about? So much so that you’d be willing to examine it with brutal honesty and if needed, make a change? 

In yourself? In your job? In your community? In your institutions? In your country? In this world?

And if you find that you just can’t change something, what do you care enough about to create brand spanking new?

Go make your change. Go make your art.

If you ask someone, “Why do you do it that way?”  (You can ask yourself this very same question.)

And the response is…

“Because it’s always done that way.”  Or “That’s what everyone else does.” Or “It’s industry standard.”

Be alert.

That probably means it’s a time for a change. (Management consulting, a $250 billion industry, was founded and continues to thrive on this single principle.)

Also be excited.

For therein lies your opportunity.

“Not-knowing is true knowledge. Presuming to know is a disease.” –Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)

“The bravest leaders and contributors aren’t worried about appearing afraid. It allows them to see the world more clearly.” -Seth Godin

“I don’t know” is a powerful answer to any question.

“I don’t know” is honest. It’s brave. It takes guts to admit. It also indicates trust. Meaning that you trust the person on the receiving end of “I don’t know” to not judge you. To still trust in your merit and ability and insight.

And remember…”I don’t know” isn’t a final answer. It’s just where you are now. You start with “I don’t know”, but can then learn as much about the issue or question or problem. And with that added knowledge, time and reflection, you make the best possible decision if/when you need to make one.

“A woodpecker can tap twenty times on a thousand trees and get nowhere, but stay busy. Or it can tap twenty-thousand times on one tree and get dinner.” -Seth Godin, The Dip

Thinking about sunk costs force us to contemplate the question, “To quit or to push through?”

Seth Godin wrote an excellent book about this very idea called The Dip which I highly recommend. It’s short but packs a wallop. I won’t elaborate here as I’d prefer you read the book. But here’s one giant takeaway, especially for those of us like me who have a hard time giving up on something or saying no…

It’s okay to quit something. Successful people across all industries have quit multiple things. And quit often.

But just like starting something, it’s really important to identify your “why” for quitting. If you don’t have a strong why, it might just mean you’re going through a dip and need to push through.

Once you figure it out either way, you’ll soar even higher.

“How did it get so late so soon?” -Dr. Seuss

“It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. … The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.” -Seneca, On The Shortness Of Life

“Inelegantly, and without my consent, time passed.” -Miranda July, No One Belongs Here More Than You

Time is far and away the most valuable asset we have, but it’s a finite one.

And like all assets, the real value stems from how we use them.

If you respect it. If you’re patient with it. If you give yourself enough of it. You can do great and lasting things. Time can heal wounds. Time can perform miracles. Time can be your best friend.

If you disrespect it. If you’re always in a hurry. If you don’t appreciate it. Well, then….it can be your absolute worst enemy. (Observe yourself the next time you’re late for a meeting and stuck in bad traffic.)

Friend or foe, what’s it gonna be?